Late Rally Falls Short as UNC Men's Basketball Drops Fourth Straight Game

The Tar Heels are making history, but not in a good way.

The UNC men’s basketball team lost its fourth straight game Sunday afternoon, falling 80-72 at Virginia Tech in the ACC opener for both schools. The loss marks the first time ever a preseason No. 1 team has lost four consecutive games in the same season, and also likely will make Carolina the fastest preseason No. 1 to ever drop out of the AP Poll. UNC currently sits at No. 18, but lost both of its games this week.

UNC’s struggles on offense and on the glass continued in Blacksburg. Carolina lost the rebounding battle 39-25 to the Hokies, though leading rebounder Armando Bacot dressed but did not play as he continues to nurse a shoulder injury. Sophomore guard D’Marco Dunn also did not play and won’t suit up for the foreseeable future after breaking a bone in his hand during a recent practice.

Carolina shot just 9-23 (39.1 percent) in the first half as the Hokies took a 37-27 lead into the locker rooms. It got worse in the second, with Virginia Tech expanding its lead to as large as 18 points at 57-39. The game could have gotten completely out of hand, but the Tar Heels finally came to life late in the game. A 25-10 extended run, capped off by a steal and layup by Caleb Love, sliced the lead down to just three points at 67-64 with three minutes to go.

But the Hokies buckled down in the final few minutes, with star forward Justyn Mutts immediately restoring the lead to five points and a pair of free throws pushing it to seven with two minutes to go. Carolina only managed three made shots in the final three minutes and never got closer than five points for the rest of the game.

Mutts, who began his college career when former Carolina great Luke Maye was a senior, starred all afternoon. The All-ACC candidate scored a game-high 27 points on 12-16 shooting, grabbed 11 rebounds and played 38 of 40 minutes. Though UNC’s Pete Nance scored 18 points and grabbed 10 boards of his own, the Tar Heels had no answer for Mutts down low. Virginia Tech outscored UNC 42-32 in points in the paint and held a 10-4 advantage in offensive rebounding.

Love and R.J. Davis each equaled Nance’s 18 points, but fellow starters Leaky Black and Puff Johnson (starting in place of Bacot) combined for just two. In a disturbing trend, UNC once again posted mediocre assist numbers: just six on 24 made shots. No Tar Heel had more than two.

Virginia Tech shot 50.8 percent for the game. It’s the second consecutive game in which Carolina has allowed its opponent to shoot higher than 50 percent. UNC shot 53.6 in the second half as it attempted its comeback, but still finished the day at just 47.1 percent. The Tar Heels haven’t shot higher than 50 percent in a game since defeating Portland in the opener of the Phil Knight Invitational on Thanksgiving.

UNC’s four-game skid is its longest under second-year head coach Hubert Davis and its longest since the 2019-20 season. Carolina will finally return home after its arduous road trip and face Georgia Tech in the Smith Center on December 10.

Featured image via Inside Carolina/Rob Simmons

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Late Rally Falls Short as UNC Men’s Basketball Drops Fourth Straight Game

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